Kids judging Kids

by Mike

It is becoming tougher to properly deal with young offenders and to also send out a message that will make those that consider crime as an easy way to get what they want think twice.

Preston’s Restorative Justice Centre features the UK’s first “peer panels” where youth juries decide how to punish yobs. The idea was first started in America and will panels of four youngsters aged 10-17 will meet offenders and victims to agree on an appropriate punishment.

It is a great idea and one that will hopefully be implemented in many other cities around the world. Too often I believe there is a lack of respect and following on from that a lack of remorse from people who commit crimes across the board.

Perhaps if other teenagers can take a fresh look at the situation and will also have more experience of what it is like to be growing up in these affected areas. I think we can forget what it is like to be young but at the same time I think we can also dismiss the fact that some of the acts that are committed are actually worthy of being punished.

With that in mind there are some that will plainly cry out for discipline, affection and love from their parents, while others will look for ways to take advantage of it and stretch the boundaries as far as they will go.

I think criminals need to be shamed. I think the more they are humbled for the acts they commit the less they will be treated like heroes and celebrities by their peers and by elements of the media. They seem to be given more prominence and are nearly worshipped. Recent stories featuring the children of the “General” Martin Cahill only seem to fuel that.